Selfish Love
by Poetic Mystery
Summary: A tangled love web involving Ryou, Bakura, Malik, and Marik. Bakura is infatuated with Ryou, Malik is obsessed with Bakura, Ryou has a crush on Marik, but everyone believes him to be in the shadow realm. Nothing yet is clear, but the tension is real.


Hey there! I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with this one, but I do have some sort of plot cooking around in the old noggin, haha. Rated T for now, but will be switched to M for later chapters. Love tangle in the making, look out. No clear pairings at this moment, but hopefully a lot of tension on the rise. Please enjoy! I would appreciate it greatly if you could review and leave any suggestions behind.

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from YuGiOh. If I did, 4kids would have never been able to air it for its content, lol.

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**Selfish Love**

Sitting with his chin placed in the palm of his hand, Ryou stared toward the front of the classroom, not really looking at anything in particular. Lost in his thoughts, he began wondering just how life had been turning out for him. He had graduated high school and started college on an aimless track to adulthood. Bakura lived with him in his father's home since the man was seldom around. He didn't currently have a job, but then again allowance was sent in the mail every week. Life was mostly at a standstill in time, leaving him with very little to do besides school work and the occasional friend. Speaking of friends, he wondered how Yugi and Atem were doing since he saw them last. Strange how the former Pharaoh had listened to his pleas for giving Bakura a second chance. He knew his yami more than anyone in the world could possibly comprehend. Though that mind link, each of them had been given the chance to glimpse into the others' memories and emotions. Well, more so on Bakura's half looking into Ryou's mind since the dark spirit was wise beyond his many years, therefore he hid his secrets well. Perhaps it was a learned trait given his profession.

"Ryou, either pay attention or get the hell out of my classroom. This is the third time this week and I'm sure there are plenty of students who would love to have the spot that you're so intent on wasting!" Mr. Aizawa yelled, his brows furrowing toward the rims of his glasses, nearly concealing them from sight. The teacher stood a whole foot over Ryou himself, and towered over him at a standing position, let alone one where he was forced to be seated giving him an heir of intimidation. He took full advantage of this fact and he knew it.

"Yes sir, sorry…" came his mumbled reply, yet one of politeness, not bothering with an excuse for his pensiveness, the professor would merely dismiss it carelessly anyhow. It's not that Ryou really even cared for the class, but they wouldn't accept any other religion aside from Christianity to aid in his completion of his general core classes. If it weren't for their accounting program he wouldn't have even bothered with a Christian-based school in the first place. They seemed to frown on agnostics obsessed with the occult for some reason; he couldn't quite place his finger on it. But he wasn't one to judge on religion, after all, Bakura spat upon the gods of Egypt, and who was to say that those people were completely off of their rocker in their choices of deities.

Once class was over, he decided to drop by the store to pick something out for lunch. He only had one class today; ironically he only had that class three times a week, meaning he had spaced out all three days. He chuckled to himself and pulled his cream colored sweater closer. The autumn air could be so merciless, blinding him with his long white hair that chose to dance in his eyes just to taunt him for either not cutting it or not tying it back. It was hard to tell, but still got annoying when he blindly reached for a door that wasn't there.

"Ladies first," came a familiar voice from behind his frame, accompanied by a strong, yet slender, tan hand holding the door open for him. Ryou rolled his eyes and walked inside, rubbing his clothed arms out of habit from the cold. "Hello Malik, how did psychology go?"

The Egyptian male followed him inside, bundled in his own attire of a sleeveless lavender shirt covered by a black leather coat. Of course he had dawned on some skin tight leather pants decked out with golden chains that hung from the hooks of his waist, along with silver chains that hung from extra pockets on them. His golden collar was always present, along with his other jewelry currently hidden by the jacket. Always trying to look his best for his _secret-obsession. _

"You know, same old routine. But I think I learned something important today," he said with a rather sly tone in his voice. Ryou didn't quite like the way this was going already.

"Oh? What's that?" he replied casually, resting the handle of his red grocery basket on his left wrist.

"I think you need to be committed." Malik stated with a serious face, causing Ryou to question whether or not he was actually joking.

"Alright…why on earth would you think that?" the whitnette asked, raising a shapely brow in curiosity. He watched closely as a wide grin spread across Malik's face and he instantly regretted his question.

"Because you never date you prude," he laughed, patting Ryou roughly on the back. "Come on Ryou, you're 19 years old and have never even had a boyfriend before. So what's the hold up?"

If Ryou were a turtle, he would have retreated into his shell and refused to come out ever again from humiliation. But since he wasn't, he was forced to face the torment as he face turned a shade of crimson while a few shoppers had stopped to stare and listen in because of his friend's comment.

"Malik, this is neither the time nor the place to discuss my intimate life!" he whispered quietly, but quite sternly. The other male put his hands in mock defense, still grinning like a madman. "Ok, ok. Sorry. But you might want to at least start browsing. There are so many gorgeous men on the market that I'm sure are dying to get a piece of you," he winked as Ryou only blushed harder, glaring forward with vicious intent. Throwing the bread into the basket that held the rest of his ingredients, he walked briskly ahead of the pestering male, silently plotting any form of revenge that would rise to his mind. Sadly, he could think of none that the other male would take seriously other than drastically hurting his feelings, and he just couldn't do that to the rather bubbly male. "Are you coming over later after your last class?" the paler boy asked curiously, after he had calmed himself down.

Malik hand begun to think that he had really done damage to the other male's dignity when he gave him the silent treatment through the rest of the store. He even offered to pay at the register and he ignored him. Thankful for a sound out of Ryou at last, Malik nodded, "Yeah, of course. Why wouldn't I want to come over? Do you think I can spend the night too?"

"I don't see why not, I'll check with Bakura."

"Please do," he answered, obtaining that goofy grin that appeared whenever Bakura's name was mentioned around him. When would he just come out and say that he was head over heals for that man? His crush developed back when they weren't on very good terms and he was partners with Bakura in an attempt to overthrow the Pharaoh and take over the world with darkness. Thankfully things turned out different.

Finding his way home in the chilly afternoon weather, Ryou opened the door to his home and placed the grocery sacks on the table. He shivered and basked in the warm air from the heater that filled the room. Bakura was no where in sight. Maybe he was asleep upstairs, it was certainly the day for it since the male still wasn't so accustom to the feeling of colder weather. Living a life in Egypt and then coming to a wintry country wasn't exactly on Bakura's list of things to do in his now immortal life, but he really couldn't complain living in a rent free house with a maid and a cook, Ryou. Then again, he had his other reasons for sticking around the house as well, but he didn't understand them himself quite yet.

Ryou found his way into the kitchen area and unloaded his lunch preparations, setting them out onto the counter and pulling out a frying pan. He would call the other down once the food was done, if he didn't wander down there on his own by that time anyway. Turning on the stove, he began to heat up the pan. He placed four pieces of bread into each slot of the toaster, waiting until later to press them down, however. Walking over to the counter, he pulled out a knife and carefully cut open the package that held the bacon, knowing full well that there was no way he could open it without the knife. He placed six strips in the pan and walked over to wash the raw pork off of his hands before returning to the stove, fork in hand to flip the sizzling meat. While flipping the final piece, his finger slipped due to the growing slickness of the fork and his finger brushed against the bottom of the pan, causing him to yelp out in pain and jump back, holding his hand, keeping his fingers away from the burnt digit. What he did not notice was the figure that had been watching him cook all the while, stalk up from behind him. It was only when he noticed the pale hand reach out to grab the wrist attached to the burnt finger that he even realized Bakura was in the room. What shocked him even further was the fact that he had drawn the digit into his mouth, swirling his tongue over the wound to sooth the burn before pulling away and smirking, leaving Ryou dumbfounded in his path. "You may want to go put a bandaid on that. I'll finish up here until you return." His held a mysterious glint in them as he spoke, making Ryou feel uncomfortable. "Hurry up, or I may change my mind and let the place catch fire..."

The former host exited the room, mind swarming with confusion. What was with the sudden act of kindness from Bakura? It was strange to see him offer to help with something around the house, let alone soothe his finger in the manner that he did. Normally he would offer to cut it off to distract him from the initial pain and he would curtly deny his service, fearing that he may be serious about it. He walked into the bathroom and rummaged through his medicine cabinet, looking for his favorite camouflage colored bandaids. Once located, he proceeded to peel it from its casing and wrap it around his index finger. Entering the room once more, the smell of the cooked bacon filled the air, settling on a plate with paper towel on it on top of the counter. The toast was finished as well, sitting out on a separate plate. "Ah, I see you've come to join me. Tell me now, what did you expect to gain by burning yourself making food? Really, if you're that careless as to get hurt so easily perhaps I should start training you differently," the former thief mused.

Ryou looked at the immortal male indignantly and shook his head. "Hello to you too.." he murmured, getting back to work on making their lunch. Bakura watched him intently as Ryou pulled out a third plate, placing two pieces of toasted bread on it, and taking slices of turkey out of the package and onto the toast. "If you'd like to help, you can cut the tomato, and don't complain about it, it's good for you."

Bakura glowered for a moment before taking out a knife and completing his task with ease, making sure to make it a speedy deed in order to show off that he too can work in the kitchen like a cook. He chuckled when Ryou merely rolled his eyes and tore off lettuce from the head, placing it on the sandwich along with the tomato slices. Lastly, he took the bacon and placed it on, taking the second piece of toast and finishing the work off. "Here you go, nice and healthy!" Ryou cheered. Now that it was all said and done, he was in a much better mood. Bakura made a face at the meal but took it nevertheless; there were things that he put up with if only to see that boy smile. Though he would never admit it to himself, let alone Ryou. Secrecy was his specialty, even if it meant hiding things from himself.

Bakura found himself watching Ryou munch happily on his sandwich while he picked mindlessly at his. Self control was another thing that he had mastered after all of those years, yet it always seemed to slip, even just slightly, around this human. He couldn't tell why he was drawn to him, other than he was the chosen one to release his spirit from its bond. There was something there that caught his attention that drove him on; wanting to know more, everything there was to know about him. _How can he appear so damn bubbly when I know for a fact his past is a dark one? He practically has no family; his only living relative is never around. I plagued his life for a better half of his teenage years. He's never had a lot of friends, mostly because of me. The friends that he does have can be bothersome at that… And besides, when did he stop fearing me? I don't like that. _

Ryou brushed the crumbs from his mouth and hands when he was finished, looking over to see that Bakura had been staring at him all the while, and was apparently not connected to this world at the moment. He held back his laughter when he noticed how funny he looked dazed, lost in thought, with small crumbs around his mouth. By no means was that man a neat and tidy eater. Nothing about him claimed that he was that way either. Even the way his hair stuck out in every direction was a clue to that factor. But mostly, his eyes held a wild and unrestrained essence to them that interested Ryou. He had seen those eyes only one other time, by the man that he had unknowingly formed an immediate crush on, with those deep but cold amethyst eyes. While Bakura was reserved in his own brand of madness, Marik was full of wild abandon. Both dangerous and unstable, he wished he knew why he was drawn to the man. _It doesn't matter anyway. After that battle with Atem, he'll never return to this earth again… Isn't an eternity to the shadow realm a bit harsh for anybody? It's so lonely there, full of empty nothingness that threatens to swallow your very soul. I've only been there once, and for such a short time. But those seconds seemed stretched out far beyond my comprehension…_

Snapping out of his thoughts, the smaller of the two spoke up, drawing the other from his thoughts as well, "Bakura, Malik wanted to spend the night tonight, is that alright with you?"

Silence. He arched an eyebrow and gave a dismissive wave of the hand, showing that he didn't care either way. That was the normal response he was used to, giving him a sense of security once more. Maybe they could all do something together for once, instead of having a friend over and Bakura locking himself in his room. That man was one hell of a recluse when it came to company. It could have something to do with the fact that he disliked over half of Ryou's friends. But he used to be really close to Malik, so maybe he won't mind. "Alright then, I'll go get my room ready."


End file.
